Problem: The Census Bureau`s practice of counting people incarcerated in correctional facilities (rather than their home addresses) leads state and local governments to draw skewed electoral districts that give undue political influence to people living near major prisons and dilute the representation of people everywhere else. Solutions: End the suspension, revocation and prohibition of driver`s licence renewals for non-payment of fines and fees. Since 2017, fifteen states (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Ky., Minnesota, Miss., Mont., Nev., Ore., Utah, Virginia, W.Va. and Wyo.) and the District of Columbia have eliminated all of these practices. For more on the above, see our report Reforms Without Results: Why States Should Stop Excluding Violent Crime from Criminal Justice Reforms. For more information on the aging prison population, check out our briefing How many people aged 55 or older are in prison by state? and the Vera Institute of Justice`s Aging Out report. Legislation: Rhode Island S 2694 (2022) proposed: Maintain Medicaid registration for the first 30 days of a person`s detention; require that Medicaid eligibility be determined upon detention and that eligible individuals be enrolled; require the reintroduction of pre-release suspended health services and the issuance of pre-release medical assistance identity cards. Problem: Nationally, one in six people has been incarcerated in state prisons for a decade or more. While many states have taken commendable steps to reduce the number of people in prison for minor offenses, little has been done to relieve people who spend decades in prison unnecessarily. Problem: Technical offences are behaviours that violate probation rules that would not be considered a “crime” for someone who is not under community supervision, such as missing a curfew or recording meeting, keeping a job, avoiding association with people with a history of conviction, and failing a drug test. In 8 states, more people are sent to prison for technical violations than for new crimes. Incarceration of people for “technical violations” of probation and probation conditions – whether in prison for so-called “rapid immersion” or “flash incarceration” or in prison – is a common but harmful and disproportionate response to minor violations of the rules. These unnecessary detentions make it more difficult for supervised individuals to succeed and result in higher remedial costs.
In this year`s Guide to Sustainable Criminal Law Reforms, we added a reference to care and neighbourhood laws and a new section – Preparing People for Success After Release. The two reforms in this new section are: (1) prohibiting discrimination based on beliefs and (2) connecting people to benefits that help them successfully re-enter the labour market. As always, we`ve also updated our list of Winnable criminal law reforms and added new sample calculations and resources to help you learn more. Solutions: Parliament may pass laws requiring a criminal conviction for permanent forfeiture, create a presumption that low-value seizures are not related to a crime and therefore not eligible for forfeiture, end participation in the federal “fair sharing” program, create and require the right to court-appointed counsel in forfeiture cases, that the proceeds of the forfeiture be paid into the general fund of the State or to a fund dedicated to community development, education or compensation for victims of crime. Problem: 35 states (Ala., Alaska, Arizona, Ark., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ind., Iowa., Kan., La., Maine., Md., Mass., Mich., Mo., Neb., N.H., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., N.D., Ohio., Okla., R.I., S.C., N.D., Tenn., Texas., Vt., Wash., and Wisc.) Suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew driver`s licenses for unpaid traffic, tolls, misdemeanors and penalties, and charges that result in millions of debt-related suspensions nationwide. License suspension prevents people from earning the money they need to pay their fines and fees, undermines their ability to take care of themselves, and forces law enforcement to waste time arresting, summoning and arresting people for driving with a suspended driver`s license. Issue: Parole for parolees is often delayed for months because the Parole Board requires them to complete a course or program (often a drug or alcohol treatment program) that is not readily available before they can return home. In 2015, at least 40 states used participation in institutional programs as a factor in probation decisions. In some states, particularly Tennessee and Texas, thousands of people whom the Parole Board deemed “safe” to return to the community remain incarcerated simply because the state imposed this bureaucratic hurdle. Solutions: States should strive to avoid parental incarceration. States should enact laws requiring that a parent`s caregiver status be taken into account at the time of conviction and when considering alternatives to detention.
If a parent is detained, they should be housed as close to their family as possible, and meaningful transportation options (such as government-funded driving programs) should be available to ensure that children can visit incarcerated parents on a regular basis. Additional information: See our briefing on national and country-specific data for 15 states (Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, La., Maine, Mass., Michigan, Miss., Mont., N.M., N.D., Ohio, Okla., S.C., and Wash.) that charge a monthly fee even though half (or more) of their probation officers earn less than $20,000 per year. States with privatized parole systems will find useful the six recommendations on pages 7-10 of Human Rights Watch`s report, “Set up to Fail: The Impact of Offender-Funded Private Probation on the Poor.” Solutions: Amend state laws and/or constitutions to remove provisions relating to disenfranchisement. In addition, governors should immediately restore the voting rights of disenfranchised persons through executive action if they have the power to do so. Drafted by Democratic Senator María Elena Durazo of Los Angeles, Senate Bill 731 allows nearly all previous convictions to be definitively sealed once a person has served their entire sentence and left four more years without further contact with the judicial system. Problem: Given that approximately 80% of defendants cannot afford a lawyer, public defenders play a critical role in the fight against mass incarceration. Public defenders fight to keep low-income people out of the revolving door of criminal justice, reduce excessive sentencing, and prevent false convictions. When people receive a public defender earlier, for example before their first court appearance, they tend to spend less time in detention.
However, public defence systems are not adequately equipped; On the contrary, prosecutors and courts have disproportionate resources. The U.S. Constitution guarantees attorneys to those accused of crimes, but many states delegate this constitutional obligation to local governments and fail to hold local governments accountable if defendants do not have a competent attorney. Problem: Most states charge monthly fees to people on probation, even though many are among the poorest in the country. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to jail someone because they cannot afford to pay the fines and fees imposed by the court, many courts do so by treating non-payment as a breach of probation. When counties rely on these fees for their revenues, courts have an incentive to impose unnecessary or excessive conditional sentences. In addition, the increase in privatized probation has led to unnecessary parole oversight for minor offenses in some states. Solutions: The best way is to abolish automatic punishment structures so that judges can formulate sentences tailored to the unique circumstances of each crime and each individual.
If this option is not possible, states should: enact laws condemning “safety valves” that allow judges to deviate from the mandatory minimum sentence in certain circumstances; subject increased sanctions to the discretion of judges and not make them mandatory; and reduce the size of penalty increase areas.